Multi-core processors are able to process different computational tasks simultaneously. As such, multi-core processors can execute more instructions in a given period of time as compared to single core processors. During the execution of instructions that belong to different computational tasks, the different cores on multi-core processors share resources such as on-chip communication buses, memory controllers, caches, I/O devices, and the like. At times, tasks executing on different cores interfere with one another due to these shared resources. When a multi-core processor is used in a safety-critical real time system, the worst case processing time of the executing tasks must be known for the different tasks that execute on each processor. However, it is difficult to measure and bound the degree of cross-core interference between executing tasks due to shared resources. The challenge of measuring and bounding the effects of the resource conflicts inhibits safety-critical real time systems from taking advantage of the full performance benefits presented by multi-core processors.
Further, in safety-critical real time systems, executing tasks are subject to certain scheduling requirements. Scheduling requirements entail rules that must be satisfied for the proper execution of multiple tasks. An example of scheduling requirements includes system specific scheduling restrictions (such as those imposed due to design assurance levels (DAL) for aircraft software) and “schedule before” relationships (described below).